Rachael Taylor Joins A.K.A. Jessica Jones As Patsy Walker

Another character from the pages of Marvel Comics is coming to the Netflix series A.K.A. Jessica Jones.

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Marvel announced today that Rachael Taylor has joined the cast as Patricia “Patsy” Walker, described as the title character’s best friend and a bit of a Renaissance woman as she’s a talk show host, former model and child TV star.

That jives with Patsy Walker’s comic book history, which is among the most unusual of any character around. She’s actually been in existence since the Golden Age of comics, first appearing in 1944 and making a long run as the star of teen-oriented series — almost like Marvel predecessor Timely Comics’ version of Archie and his friends. In 1965, Walker began showing up in regular super hero comics, and later writers explained her earlier appearances as comics read by people in the Marvel Universe. Comics within comics, in other words.

In the early 70s, Patsy took the costume and gadgets that Greer Grant (who went on to become Tigra) used as The Cat and renamed herself Hellcat. That’s particularly relevant since Hellcat went on to become a member of the Defenders. The first wave of Marvel’s Netflix initiative is supposed to conclude with a Defenders mini-series, so could we see Walker suit up? The announcement did mention Hellcat, so it’s certainly possible.

The 30-year old Taylor hails from Australia, but has been a fixture in American movies and TV for about a decade. She had a starring role on the short-lived ABC series 666 Park Avenue a few years ago and also appears in the thriller The Loft, which opens in theaters this weekend.

A.K.A. Jessica Jones features Krysten Ritter as Jones, Mike Colter as Luke Cage and David Tennant as Kilgrave, and is slated to hit Netflix sometime in 2015.

Next: See more about David Tennant's casting on A.K.A. Jessica Jones

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